II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 516 

To require coverage of incarcerated workers under the Fair Labor Standards 

Act of 1938, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2023 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require coverage of incarcerated workers under the Fair 

Labor Standards Act of 1938, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Wages for Incar5 cerated Workers Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COVERAGE OF INCARCERATED WORKERS UNDER 

7 THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938. 

8 Section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

9 (29 U.S.C. 203) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (e)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; 

3 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (C)(ii)(V), by 

5 striking the period at the end and inserting 

6 ‘‘; and’’; and 

7 (iii) by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(D) any individual employed as an incar10 cerated worker by a public agency that operates 

11 the correctional facility in which such individual 

12 is incarcerated or detained.’’; and 

13 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(6) The term ‘employee’ includes (in addition 

15 to an individual described in paragraph (2)(D)) any 

16 individual employed as an incarcerated worker by a 

17 private entity that operates, through a contract with 

18 a public agency, the correctional facility in which 

19 such individual is incarcerated or detained.’’; 

20 (2) in subsection (m)(1), by striking ‘‘any em21 ployee.’’ and inserting ‘‘any employee: Provided fur22 ther, That, in the case of an employee who is an in23 carcerated worker, the cost of board, lodging, or 

24 other facilities and any amount taken from amounts 

25 paid such incarcerated worker for payment of a 


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1 court-imposed fee shall not be included in the wage 

2 paid to such employee.’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(z)(1) ‘Incarcerated worker’ means an individual, in5 carcerated or detained in a correctional facility operated 

6 by a public agency or by a private entity through a con7 tract with a public agency, who performs work offered or 

8 required by or through the correctional facility, including 

9 work associated with prison work programs, work release 

10 programs, the UNICOR program, State prison industries, 

11 public works programs, restitution centers, correctional fa12 cility operations and maintenance, and private entities. 

13 ‘‘(2) An incarcerated worker shall be considered em14 ployed by— 

15 ‘‘(A) the public agency operating the correc16 tional facility in which the individual is incarcerated 

17 or detained; or 

18 ‘‘(B) in the case of a correctional facility oper19 ated by a private entity through a contract with a 

20 public agency, such private entity. 

21 ‘‘(aa) ‘Correctional facility’ has the meaning given 

22 such term in section 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control 

23 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251). 

24 ‘‘(bb)(1) ‘Court-imposed fee’ means any fee imposed 

25 by a court as a result of a criminal conviction, including 


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1 any surcharge imposed for a felony or misdemeanor con2 viction, a criminal justice administrative fee, a court-ap3 pointed attorney fee, a court clerk fee, a filing clerk fee, 

4 a DNA database fee, a jury fee, a crime lab analysis fee, 

5 a late fee, an installment fee, or any other court cost. 

6 ‘‘(2) The term ‘court-imposed fee’ does not include 

7 any amount required by a court to be paid for child sup8 port, to a crime victim compensation fund, for a civil judg9 ment, or for a criminal fine.’’. 

Æ 


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